Garden Pics for the kids

Since the kids have gone to "Camp Nana" in Texas, our front flower garden has blossomed into a colorful place. I'm uploading some pictures so the kids can see the fruits of their labors.

4th of July

We had a nice 4th of July. How's that for a catchy first line? I felt yucky most of the day - I think I ate something that didn't like me, but today I'm not feeling so well, either.

Anyway - here's a picture from yesterday. We opted to watch the fireworks from the church parking lot instead of Overlook Park. No crowds, no traffic. We sat in the back of the pickup and enjoyed ourselves.


On another note: the kids just finished swim lessons. Caleb and Audrey did very well - they learned new strokes and really enjoyed themselves. It was a battle with Julie. She didn't want to put her face underwater. Maybe next year. At least I know she'll stay close to the very shallow end. More pictures:
Audrey loves the high dive.



Switching gears, now. Before I found out I was pregnant, I decided I was going to sort through all the kids clothes I have stored in the shed. I've kept everything from all 3 kids because we always knew we wanted one more. But it's not organized very well and that drives me nuts. So I started going through the boy clothes first. I'm sorting according to size and season. I've been doing this in my bedroom because I can spread out on the bed and it's a good motivation to clear out the stuff every night before we go to sleep. Anyway, Friday I decided to finish up in the living room and the kids wanted to help. So we sorted clothes. I came across the moose costume I made for Caleb for his second Halloween. Each kid insisted on putting on the moose headpiece, so I insisted on taking pictures. Goofy family, aren't we:


Final topic change. Caleb got his new orthodontic appliances this week. He has an expander cemented to the inside of his upper teeth and a removable expander on his bottom teeth. The point is to, well, expand his mouth. It's wicked crowded in there. Hopefully this will make room for the permanent teeth when they start coming in and the time in braces will be reduced. He talked really funny at first but now that he's getting used to all the stuff, he sounds more normal.

Are You Kidding Me?

So we're sitting here watching "Mythbusters" after dinner tonight, when Audrey starts screaming bloody murder. I can't figure out what's going on because she's over close to Steve. Did Julie do something to hurt her? Is there a nasty bug that bit her? What's going on? Steve starts acting all irritated and at first I think it's because she's screaming and talking simultaneously and he can't understand what she's saying, but I soon figure out why he's mad.

Audrey: "scream, scream, scream my nooooose!"
Steve: "You stuck a Lego head up your nose?!"
Audrey: "Yeeeeeesss!!"

I'm trying not to laugh or smile because she's freaking out. Steve is trying to get her to blow it out of her nose with no luck. I'm envisioning a daddy/daughter trip to the ER. Julie and Caleb are staying out of the way, thankfully. So Steve gets a flashlight, looks up her nose and says he can see it.

So I get her to lay down on the couch, and I cover her eyes and hold her arms (because the last time somebody tried to fish something out of her nose she suddenly turned into a vicious screaming octopus), and Steve gets the tweezers. It took less than a minute and he fishes out not a Lego head, but a Lego arm. Spongebob's arm, in fact.

Can you believe this?

The last time she shoved something up her nose, she was 2 1/2 years old and Julie was 2 weeks old. Is there something in her little brain that compels her to stuff things up there when a new sibling enters the scene? Because, in case you haven't heard the news yet, I'm pregnant. Due in January. I have terrible morning sickness - feels like I'm carsick 24/7.

As soon as we got the lego arm safely extracted, I grabbed my laptop so I could share the joy with all of you.

:)

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Pictures from Saturday morning

Ahhh - Saturday morning. I awoke to the dulcet tones of my children getting along. Caleb was offering to get the girls breakfast...but then things rapidly deteriorated from there. Julie wanted a glass bowl for her cereal and Caleb was offering her a plastic purple one. Oh well. At least one child was using his head.

So here are some pictures. The first pics are of Caleb's program yesterday at school. It was "The Drumming Spider." I can't tell you the plot line because I couldn't hear anything. Oh well. At least it was short. He's second in from the right on the front row.



For those of you who grew up here in LA, the choir director is Laurel Webb. How fun is that?

And on to this morning. I've spent the last week tearing out the nasty grass out of half of our front yard and replacing it with flower seeds. I thought it would be fun to let the kids choose and plant their own stuff. I ended up planting most of it, but that's fine by me since I'm the picky one. As you can see, I still have some planting to go, but I'm waiting on some plants from a friend. She's thinning out her garden and we're getting some hollyhocks and orange California poppies from her. Maybe also some daisies. Depends on how she and I feel. Anyway - after I get those little plants in, I'll fill in the spaces with a Rocky Mountain seed mix Mom got for me last year. I'll be generous with those seeds since they're over a year old. I'll have no way of knowing what is what when they sprout and grow, but that's part of the fun of a seed mix, right? Audrey's kinder class planted some sunflower seeds in a little plastic cup a few weeks ago for some science lessons so we transplanted them Sunday. I think a little bunny came over and ate one, but we still have 3 little plants that look alive.

We also reseeded the other part of our lawn. It looks pretty rough, but hopefully I can nurse it back to respectability this spring and summer.





I got the girls to pose by some of our flowers. I can't take credit for the irises in the front nor the peonies in the back. They're welcome leftovers from the previous owners.

Julie is doing her "Vanna White" pose and showing us...what? I'm not quite sure what she's trying to show off besides her skills as a ham.

A New Sensation

Remember how I've mentioned before about getting "the itchies" when I run? I started on a training program a few weeks ago to run a 5k (3.1 miles) nonstop and it began with walking rather briskly. Since I was using different muscles than running, I got the itchies in my legs the first couple of times I walked, but it went away.

Today on my first run since I started the training program, I got the itchies on my abs. My abs! Yay! Do you know what this means? The extra bloodflow from exercise is starting to reach the fat there on my tummy. Finally! Does this mean I will have chisled abs anytime soon? Doubtful, but maybe I'll be able to see a little definition before long.

Finally Made It Home From Clovis

So it was brought to my attention today that it was taking us a long time to get home from Clovis. Oops - we're hooooome!

Lots has happened since I last posted - basically the whole month of April. Before I get to recent past events, I'll post some pics of past past events. Like my pink hair. I'll start with that.




The pink is fading on the edges (my pillowcase is slightly pink-tinged), but I'm still happy with the color. I need to get in to get a trim soon.

On another front, I'm down in weight to 167.4. I'm .4 pounds away from my 10% goal. Actually, it's the third time I've lost 10% of my body weight since I started on this journey almost 3 years ago. But the bummer is that I've weighed in at 167.4 for the last two Fridays at the Weight Watchers meetings. And I was so diligent this week with my tracking, measuring, and exercising. All I can hope is that next week the scales will be more kind to me. When I hit the 10% mark, I'll get a spiffy keychain from WW.

Back to Spring Break - we got to spend some time with our twin nephews. Here's a picture of us out on Mom & Dad's driveway on the very popular plasma cars. I was giving John a ride. He seemed to enjoy it. I know I did.
Next on the agenda: I went to a writers' conference in Albuquerque mid-April. It was a great learning experience for me. I took two yellow pads - one for general notes (I took several pages) and one that had a partial manuscript (I took several pages of notes specific to that manuscript). So now I'm ready to start some serious work! I also had an appointment with an editor about my Stephen F. Austin manuscript. While I wasn't offered a multi-million contract on the spot (or any contract, for that matter) I was able to pick her brain for a little while about how to improve the manuscript. I'm going to take the story in a whole new direction and I'm excited about it.

Random story here: A couple of weeks ago on a Wednesday afternoon, Audrey busted out with a classic "Audreyism." As you may recall, elementary schools in Los Alamos dismiss at noon on Wednesdays, so all 3 kids are home. Since we have such a nice stretch of time, I have the kids bathe. So I was in the bathroom scrubbing on Julie when I hear some bloodcurdling screams from Audrey. The screams are growing louder, so I know she's making her way to the bathroom where I am. The door opens, and I see Caleb helping Audrey in. She's got her arm around his neck and he's helping her walk.

She's still screaming like somebody is ripping out her fingernails, so it's hard to get a good read on the situation. She's bleeding a bit from her mouth (great - another mouth injury?), so after I get her to rinse her mouth out a bit, she sits down on the toilet lid and tells me that all this is because she fell out of a tree in the backyard. All her limbs are fine, her mouth is fine, but she has some scrapes on her cheek, chin, and tummy. Apparently she tried to hang on to the tree as she was falling.

But the best thing? She said this: "Caleb can be seriously annoying most of the time, but he was really helpful getting me inside after I fell out of that tree." I almost didn't hear the last part because I was trying not to laugh about the "seriously annoying" part.

These are the things I'm remembering at the moment. Steve is gone for the weekend - helping a friend at his mom's house in San Angelo. I'm just in "survival mode" for the next few days.

Future events: I'm going to run in one (and possibly two) 5ks in June. The first is Saturday, June 13, and the second is Sunday, June 21 (Father's Day). I'm positive I'm running the first one, and not sure about the 2nd one, since it's a Sunday. To that end, I've started running again. I stopped over the coldest parts of winter because I'm a weenie. My goal for the 5k is to run the whole 3.1 miles (right now I'm in a run-walk pattern). After I finish, I'll get a 5k charm to put on my spiffy 10% Weight Watchers keychain. That's why I'm really doing it. I love the bling!

That's it for now. If I think of anything more, I'll let you know (and I promise I won't wait a month to do it!).